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Sunday, April 27, 2014

Similarities of Some Verses in the Quran and the Bible - IqraSense.com : Wisdom from Quran and Hadith : IqraSense.com

Quran mentions that Allah (God) revealed various scriptures / books to various nations including the scripture of Abraham, the Psalms of David, the Torah, the Gospel, and finally the Quran. As Allah mentions in the Quran:

“To thee (Muhammad) We sent the scripture (Quran) in truth confirming the scripture that came before it, and guarding it in safety…”

Observing the Quran and Bible, therefore, will show a number of similarities some of which are highlighted in the article below.

This article sheds light on the similarities between some of the verses mentioned in the Quran and related messages in the Bible. It should be noted that the verses below are only some of the many where such parallels can be made between the two scriptures.

About the Scriptures mentioned in the Quran

Quran mentions that Allah (God) revealed the following scriptures / books to various nations. They are as follows:

The scripture of Abraham: “…Then We had already given the family of Ibrahim (Abraham) the Book (Scripture) and Al-Hikmah (As-Sunnah – Divine Revelation to those Prophets not written in the form of a book), and conferred upon them a great kingdom.” Quran (4:54)

The Psalms of David: “And your Lord knows best all who are in the heavens and the earth. And indeed, We have preferred some of the Prophets above others, and to Dawud (David) We gave the Zabur (Psalms).” Quran (17:55)

The Torah: “Indeed, We gave the Book (Torah) to Musa (Moses)…” Quran (11:110)

The Gospel: “Then, We sent after them Our Messengers, and We sent ‘Îsa (Jesus) – son of Maryam (Mary), and gave him the Injeel (Gospel)…” Quran (57:27)

The Quran: “Verily, We have sent it down as an Arabic Quran in order that you may understand.” Quran (12:2)

According to Islamic belief, as the divine revealed books were changed by people over the years, hence there was need to refresh that message and the need for the final divine revelation – Quran – that God has promised will not change until end of time.
Here are the related Quran verses.

About changing Allah’s original revelations: “Then woe to those who write the Book with their own hands and then say, “This is from Allah (God),” to purchase with it a little price! Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for that they earn thereby.” Quran (2:79)

Revelation of the final Divine message: “To thee (Muhammad) We sent the scripture (Quran) in truth confirming the scripture that came before it, and guarding it in safety…” Quran (2:97)

God’s promise to protect His final message: “Verily, We, it is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (i.e. the Quran) and surely, We will guard it (from corruption).” Quran (15:9)

Closeness of Christians to Muslims: “…nearest among them in love to the believers wilt thou find those who say, “We are Christians”: because amongst these are men devoted to learning and men who have renounced the world, and they are not arrogant.” Quran (5:82)

The following sections highlight similarities between some of the Quranic verses and verses as they are found recorded today in the New Testament books (Bible).

Belief that Allah (God) is the only Deity

Here are some of the verses on this topic from the Quran and also as it appears in the Bible today.

Quran 2:255: “Allah! None has the right to be worshipped but He, The Ever Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists. Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth.…”

Quran 2:165: “And of mankind are some who take (for worship) others besides Allah as rivals (to Allah). They love them as they love Allah (God). But those who believe, love Allah more (than anything else).…”

The Bible says:

Mark 12:28-30: (A teacher of the Law asked) “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus replied, “The most important one is this: “Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

Belief in Angels

The Quran describes them as Allah’s creation who carry out duties assigned by Him with absolute obedience, such as recording our words and deeds, guarding us, taking our souls at death, praising God, asking forgiveness for those on earth, and those who conveyed divine messages to prophets, messengers, and the Virgin Mary.

Quran 6:61: “…and He sends guardians (angels guarding and writing all of one’s good and bad deeds) over you, until when death approaches one of you, Our Messengers (angel of death and his assistants) take his soul, and they never neglect their duty.”

Quran 86:4: “There is no human being but has a protector over him (or her) (i.e. angels in charge of each human being guarding him, writing his good and bad deeds).”

Quran 42:5: …The angels exalt [God] with praise of their Lord and ask forgiveness for those on earth…

Quran 3:39: “Then the angels called him (Zakariah), while he was standing in prayer in Al-Mihrab (a praying place or a private room), (saying): “Allah gives you glad tidings of Yahya (John)…”

The New Testament states the following:

Exodus 23:20: “I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.”

Revelations 7: 11: “All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God.”

Luke 15:10: …The angels of God rejoice over one sinner who repents.

Luke 1:11-13: Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.… The angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.

Belief in Prophets

Muslims believe in all prophets and messengers of Allah who were sent at different times to their people to lead them to the path of God. The Quran says, “We sent no messenger before you [O Muhammad] without revealing to him: There is no god but Me so worship Me.” (Quran, 21:25). The Quran says that the faithful believe “in God, His angels, His books and His messengers, [saying], ‘We make no distinction between any of His messengers…’” (2:285)

Quran (21:25): “And We did not send any Messenger before you (O Muhammad but We revealed to him (saying): None has the right to be worshipped but I (Allah), so worship Me (Alone and none else).”

Quran (2:285): “The Messenger (Muhammad) believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, and (so do) the believers. Each one believes in Allah, His Angels, His Books, and His Messengers. (They say), “We make no distinction between one another of His Messengers” – and they say, “We hear, and we obey. (We seek) Your Forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the return (of all).”

The following are the names of the prophets that are mentioned both in the Quran and the Bible. The names pronounced in Arabic appear in parentheses.

Adam (Aadam)

Enoch (Idrees)

Noah (Nuh)

Salih

Abraham (Ibrahim)

Ishmael (Ismaeel)

Issac (Ishaq)

Lot (Lut)

Jacob (Yacoob)

Joseph (Yusuf)

Job (Ayyub)

Moses (Moosa)

Ezekiel (Thul-kifl)

David (Dawud)

Solomon (Sulaiman)

Elias

Elisha (Al-Yasa)

Jonah (Yunus)

Zachariah

John (Yahya)

God’s knowledge and power

Regarding God’s power, following are some of the verses.

Quran 57:22: “No calamity befalls on the earth or in yourselves but it is inscribed in the Book of Decrees (Al-Lauh Al-Mahfuz) before We bring it into existence. Verily, that is easy for Allah.”

Quran (63:64): “Then tell Me about the seed that you sow in the ground. Is it you that make it grow, or are We the Grower?”

The New Testament states the following:

John 1:3: Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.

1 Corinthians 3:7: So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

Belief in the Hereafter and Accountability before God

Some of the verses related to resurrection in the hereafter and accountability of ones actions are the following:

Quran (3:185): “Everyone shall taste death. And only on the Day of Resurrection shall you be paid your wages in full. And whoever is removed away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, he indeed is successful. The life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception (a deceiving thing).”

Quran 39:68: “And the Trumpet will be blown, and all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth will swoon away, except him whom Allah wills. Then it will be blown a second time, and behold they will be standing, looking on (waiting).”

Quran 21:47: “And We shall set up balances of justice on the Day of Resurrection, then none will be dealt with unjustly in anything. And if there be the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it. And Sufficient are We to take account.”

The Bible says:

Mathew 12:33: And you can be sure than on the Judgment Day everyone will have to give account of every useless word he has ever spoken. Your words will be used to judge you – to declare you either innocent or guilty.

Mark 5:28-29: …All who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out–those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.

Revelations 21:8: But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars–their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

Matthew 13: 41-43: This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Mathew 5:12: Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven ….

Belief in Prayer

The need to establish prayers is mentioned numerous times in the Quran. Allah says:

Quran 20:14: “Verily! I am Allah! None has the right to be worshipped but I, so worship Me, and perform As-Salat (prayers) for My Remembrance.”

The Bible says:

Mathew 26:36: Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed…

Mark 1:35: Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

Belief in Fasting

Quran 2:183: “O you who believe! Observing As-Saum (the fasting) is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you (Christians, Jews), that you may become Al-Muttaqun (pious)”

The Bible says:

Mathew 9:14: Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

Luke 2:37: (about a prophetess who) was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.

Belief in Alms and Charity

The importance of charity is stressed in numerous places in the Quran.

Quran 9:60: “As-Sadaqat (here it means Zakat – obligatory charity) are only for the poor, and Al-Masakin (the poor) and those employed to collect (the funds), and to attract the hearts of those who have been inclined (towards Islam), and to free the captives, and for those in debt, and for Allah’s Cause, and for the wayfarer (a traveler who is cut off from everything); a duty imposed by Allah. And Allah is All-Knower, All-Wise.”

Quran 2:219: “…And they ask you what they ought to spend. Say: “That which is beyond your needs…”

Quran (19:55): “And he (Ismail) used to enjoin on his family and his people prayers and the Zakat (obligatory charity) and his Lord was pleased with him.”

The Bible says on charity:

Acts 10:2: He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.

1 Timothy 5:8: If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Luke 3:11: John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”

About the “Prophethood” of Jesus in Quran and Bible

The following are the verses of Jesus’ prophet hood that appear both in the Quran and the Bible.

Quran 19:29-32: “Then she (Mary) pointed to him. They said: “How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle? “He ['Îsa (Jesus)] said: “Verily I am a slave of Allah, He has given me the Scripture and made me a Prophet; And He has made me blessed wheresoever I be, and has enjoined on me Salat (prayer), and Zakat (charity), as long as I live. And dutiful to my mother, and made me not arrogant, unblest.”

Quran (3:49): “And will make him [('Îsa (Jesus)] a Messenger to the Children of Israel (saying): “I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, that I design for you out of clay, a figure like that of a bird, and breathe into it, and it becomes a bird by Allah’s Leave; and I heal him who was born blind, and the leper, and I bring the dead to life by Allah’s (God’s) Leave. And I inform you of what you eat, and what you store in your houses. Surely, therein is a sign for you, if you believe.”

The Bible says the following on Jesus prophethood:

Mathew 13:57: And so they rejected him (in Nazareth). Jesus said to them, “A prophet is respected everywhere except in his home town and by his own family.”

Mathew 21:10-11: When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was thrown into an uproar. Who is he? The people asked. “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee,” the crowds answered.

Mathew 21:45: The chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables and knew that he was talking about them, so they tried to arrest him. But they were afraid of the crowds who considered Jesus to be a prophet.“

Luke 7:16: (After Jesus brought a dead man to life) They were all filled with fear and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us!” they said.

Luke 24:19: “…Jesus of Nazareth…This man was a prophet and was considered by God and by all the people to be powerful in everything he said and did.”

The Difference…

The main difference between Christianity and Islam is reflected in the following Quranic verse:

Quran (4:171): O people of the Scripture (Christians)! Do not exceed the limits in your religion, nor say of Allah (God) aught but the truth. The Messiah ‘Îsa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), was (no more than) a Messenger of Allah and His Word, (“Be!” – and he was) which He bestowed on Maryam (Mary) and a spirit (Ruh ) created by Him; so believe in Allah and His Messengers. Say not: “Three (trinity)!” Cease! (it is) better for you. For Allah is (the only) One Ilah (Deity / God), glory be to Him (Far Exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And Allah is All-Sufficient as a Disposer of affairs.